


Vertex

by CrashDevil (cjdevlin19)



Series: The Geometry Series [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, No Smut, rated for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-17 01:50:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5849272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cjdevlin19/pseuds/CrashDevil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in 4.02. Christina has a Witness to deal with, she runs to Singer Salvage. No smut, just ghost killing and talking about the end times.<br/>***************</p><p>"So, who's yours?" Dean asked, turning to her. "Your Witness. Henrikson, Meg, Bobby's got the twins from the Shining. Who's yours?"</p><p>Christina cleared her throat. "Sam is. My Sam. From high school."</p><p>"How'd she-" Dean asked, quietly.</p><p>"When I was a Freshman at USD, I was approached by a coven. They wanted to recruit me. I was a solitary practitioner, always. When I turned them down, they got... they were afraid that I was going to go to a rival coven, instead. So, they left a hex bag under my bed. Samantha came to visit me. I was studying for finals, so she fell asleep in my bed waiting. She woke up just long enough to realize that her skin was melting off. She's pissed because it's my fault she died."</p><p>"The hell it was. Did you get those witches?"</p><p>She nodded. "It was my first real hunt. Tracked 'em all down."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vertex

Christina ran to Bobby's door and slammed her fist against it. "Bobby! Open the door! Please, open the door!" She pressed her back to the door and held up her shotgun, defensively. "Bobby!" She leaned away from the door as she heard a hand on the knob and turned to the old redneck who opened the door.

"Tina, you're okay. You didn't answer yer phone."

"Must have dropped it, back at the trailer. There's some bad shit going down."

"Yeah, yer tellin' me. We're in the study. Come on." Bobby grabbed her hand and pulled her into the house, slamming the door.

She followed him into the study and nodded at Sam, before she noticed Dean. She pulled away from Bobby and bounded for Dean, wrapping her arm around his neck. "How did you get out so quick?" She asked, pulling back but not letting go, yet.

Dean looked down at her, noting that the scar across her left cheek wasn't covered. "It's pretty complicated."

"It can't be more complicated than how I got out." She whispered.

"Well, I thought yours was pretty straight forward."

"In theory, yeah, but not in execution."

"Well, if you believe the angel I talked to yesterday, Heaven's got plans for me."

"Angel?"

"Yeah. I told you it's complicated."

"Sorry to interrupt, guys, but..." Sam said. "You got salt rounds in your shotgun? You have a ghost?"

"Uh, yeah." She said, pulling away and holding her shotgun up.

Dean sat down and grabbed his own sawed-off. "Us, too. Agent Henriksen, Meg Masters, those little girls. You know yours?" Christina nodded.

"So, they're all people we know?" Sam asked.

"Not just know. People we couldn't save." Dean said, loading the shotgun. "Hey, I saw something on Meg. Did she have a tattoo when she was alive?"

"I don't think so."

"It was like a-a mark on her hand, almost like a brand."

"I saw a mark, too, on Henriksen."

"Mine had one, too. I knew it was strange, but..." Christina cut herself off.

"What did it look like?" Bobby asked.

"Uh, paper? Thanks." Sam grabbed the pad of paper from Bobby's hand and a pencil from the desk, sketching out the symbol. He held it up for Christina and Dean to look at.

"That's it." Dean answered, and she just nodded. Sam handed the notebook to Bobby.

"I may have seen this before." Bobby said, grabbing books from his bookcase. Christina grabbed as many books as she could hold under her left arm as the lights began to flicker. "We got to move. Follow me."

"Okay, where are we going?" Sam asked.

"Some place safe, you idiot." Bobby answered.

"Basement?" Christina asked. Bobby just nodded so she adjusted the books under her arm and rushed for the basement stairs. Once they got to the huge iron door, Christina turned, holding her shotgun up. Dean and Sam looked at each other and then at Bobby, completely curious. The door creaked open and Christina didn't waste a second getting inside and dropping the books on the desk. She leaned against the desk and watched the boys look around at the weapons and Devil's traps. Bobby shut the door behind him and locked it down tight. 

Sam ran his hand along one of the walls. "Bobby, is this..."

"Solid iron. Completely coated in salt. 100% ghost-proof." Bobby answered.

Sam seemed amused and impressed. "You built a panic room?" 

"We had a weekend off." Bobby said, turning to squeeze Christina's shoulder.

"Bobby." Dean said, grabbing a high power rifle from the weapon rack.

"What?"

"You're awesome." He said, before chuckling. His eyes fell on a poster on the wall. "Oh."

"Bo Derek was my idea." Christina said, before sitting down at the desk and flipping open a book.

"There's salt and pellets over there. Get makin' ammo." Bobby instructed, sitting at the desk on the opposite side.

The boys nodded and took off their jackets, before sitting down to make the bullets.

Dean kept looking around the room as he worked, like he was trying to get the courage to ask a question. "See, this is why I can't get behind God."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.

"If He doesn't exist, fine. Bad crap happens to good people. That's how it is. There's no rhyme or reason, just random, horrible, evil. I get it, okay. I can roll with that. But if He is out there, what's wrong with Him? Where the hell is He while all these decent people are getting torn to shreds? How does He live with himself? You know, why doesn't He help?"

Sam shot a look at Bobby, who shrugged. "I ain't touchin' this one with a 10-foot pole."

"Yeah." Dean muttered.

"This is why I'm Pagan."

"I don't see Zeus helpin' out too much." Dean quipped.

"Which is about as much interference as you'd expect from a guy who spends the majority of his legends getting his dick wet." She smiled brightly at him.

"Found it." Bobby said, tapping a pencil against a book.

"What?" Sam asked.

"The symbol you saw, the brand on the ghosts..."

"Yeah."

"Mark of the Witness." Christina read from the other side of the desk.

"Upside down? Impressive." Bobby muttered.

"Witness? Witness to what?" Sam asked.

"The unnatural. None of them died what you'd call ordinary deaths. See, these ghosts, they were forced to rise. They woke up in agony. They were like rabid dogs. It ain't their fault. Someone rose them... on purpose."

"Who?" Sam asked.

"Do I look like I know? But whoever it was, used a spell so powerful it left a mark, a brand on their souls." Sam got up and walked over to the desk. "Whoever did this had big plans. It's called 'The Rising of the Witnesses'. It figures into an ancient prophecy."

It was Dean's turn to stand and walk over. "Wait, wait. What, what book is that prophecy from?"

"Well, the widely distributed version's just for tourists, you know. But long story short, Revelations. This is a sign, boys."

"A sign of what?" The brothers asked.

Bobby sat back and sighed. "The apocalypse." Christina chimed in with him.

"Apocalypse? As in, apocalypse, apocalypse? The four horsemen, pestilence, $5-a-gallon-gas apocalypse?" Dean asked.

Bobby nodded. "That's the one. The Rise of the Witnesses is a, a mile marker."

"Okay, so, what do we do now?" Sam asked.

"Road trip." Dean said, turning away from the group.

"Grand Canyon, Star Trek Experience." Dean clapped his hands. "Bunny Ranch."

"I'm up for it." Christina chuckled as Dean sat down.

"First thing's first. How about we survive our friends out there?"

"Great. Any ideas aside from stayin' in this room until Judgement Day?" Dean asked.

Bobby tapped a notebook in front of him on the desk. "It's a spell. To send the Witnesses back to rest. Should work."

"Should." Sam chuckled, sarcastically. "Great."

"If I translate it correctly. I think I got everything we need here at the house." Bobby finished.

"Any chance you got everything we need here in this room?" Dean asked, already knowing the answer.

"So, you thought our luck was gonna start now, all of a sudden? Spell's got to be cast over an open fire."

"Fireplace in the library." Sam caught on.

"Bingo."

"That's just not as appealing as a, uh, ghost-proof panic room, you know?" Dean said.

"Yeah, well... we got this." Christina said, hoping to instill a little confidence.

"So, who's yours?" Dean asked, turning to her. "Your Witness. Henrikson, Meg, Bobby's got the twins from the Shining. Who's yours?"

Christina cleared her throat. "Sam is. My Sam. From high school."

"How'd she-" Dean asked, quietly.

"When I was a Freshman at USD, I was approached by a coven. They wanted to recruit me. I was a solitary practitioner, always. When I turned them down, they got... they were afraid that I was going to go to a rival coven, instead. So, they left a hex bag under my bed. Samantha came to visit me. I was studying for finals, so she fell asleep in my bed waiting. She woke up just long enough to realize that her skin was melting off. She's pissed because it's my fault she died."

"The hell it was. Did you get those witches?"

She nodded. "It was my first real hunt. Tracked 'em all down."

"So, you and Bobby can work up that spell and we'll keep you covered." Sam suggested. Bobby and Christina exchanged a look. "What?"

"I, uh, I don't do magic, anymore. I'm not a witch, anymore."

"What?" Dean asked. Christina opened her mouth, then closed it, unable to find the right words.

"You ain't gotta explain anything if you don't want, girl. If you're embarrassed..."

"It's not about embarrassed, Bobby. It's just difficult to explain to non-magic users." She took a deep breath and tried again. "Magic is like a drug. It's mood-enhancing and addictive. The buzz of power was always there for me, but... when I got back from Hell and I spent all day covering my scars with magic and every hunt pulling Jedi mind tricks on every person I came in contact with, and then I started calling invocations just for the thrill... I... I got so high that I couldn't come down. I had to stop, or I was gonna get lost. I just... I don't do magic anymore."

"When was this?" Dean whispered.

"'bout two weeks after you... died." Bobby answered.

Dean smiled. "Well, you've still been hunting since then?" Christina nodded. Dean chuckled. "Welcome to Team Analog. All right. We all cover Bobby, then." He wrapped his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. He grabbed his sawed-off and Christina pulled away to grab hers.

"Cover each other. And aim careful. Don't run out of ammo until I'm done, or they'll shred you. Ready?" Bobby asked, his hand on the door. The hunters nodded and took deep breaths as Bobby opened the door.

As they cautiously made their way to the stairs, they noticed a ghost sitting at the top, near the door. Christina didn't recognize the heavyset man with the curly hair, but she could tell Dean did.

"Hey, Dean. You remember me?"

"Ronald, huh? With the laser eyes? I wish I could say it's good to see you."

"I am dead because of you." He said, standing. "You were supposed to help me."

Bobby's shotgun went off, scattering Ronald into smoke. "If you're gonna shoot, shoot. Don't talk."

The group made their way into the study. Bobby set out the books and got ready for the spell as Sam made a large salt circle and Dean started a fire in the fireplace. Bobby turned to Sam. "Upstairs, linen closet- red hex box. It'll be heavy."

"Got it." Sam said, before rushing out of the room. Bobby's ghosts popped up.

"Bobby." Dean shot at the girls, causing them to disappear, too.

"Kitchen. Cutlery drawer. It's got a false bottom. Hemlock, opium, wormwood."

"Opium?" Dean questioned.

"Go!" Bobby shouted, before turning to Christina. "You remember where the mandrake's buried?"

"Outside? You're gonna send me outside in the middle of a ghost barrage?"

"Yer the only one that knows where it is, Tina. I know you can handle yerself."

"If I end up shredded, I'm gonna haunt your ass, Singer." She said, before jumping out of the circle and running for the door. She left the door open as she ran to the side yard.

"I should have known you'd be here, CJ. Singer Salvage with Dean Winchester." Samantha popped up in front of her. "He turned you, didn't he? Way back in high school, he turned you."

Christina shot at her, then dropped to her knees, digging into the soft dirt with her hands. "Seriously, CJ. Did they know you were a witch? Did Dean know you were an evil whore when he fucked you?" She appeared behind her as Christina's hand found a jar. She pulled the jar from the ground and turned to point her shotgun at her Witness.

"Not evil. Never been evil."

"But Dean did turn you, didn't he, CJ? Fucked you in that ugly pickup truck. Did Chris watch or did you send him away while you lost your virginity to the man-whore of Sioux Falls High?" Samantha asked, suddenly right in front of Christina and wrapping her hand around her throat.

"Chris participated, you dumb bitch." Christina wheezed out before she shot her Witness and took a deep breath. She ran into the house, making sure to jump over the salt line. She handed the jar to Bobby and pulled out two shells from her pocket, working to reload her shotgun. Dean started reloading his gun, too, as Ronald showed up in front of him.

"Ronald. Hey. Come on, man. I thought we were pals."

"That was when I was breathing." Ronald said. "Now. I'm gonna eat you alive."

Dean chuckled. "Well... come on, I'm not a cheeseburger." He cocked and raised his shotgun, but Ronald was gone. Christina cocked her own gun and stood defensively in front of Bobby as he spoke the Latin words over the bowl.

"Shit!" She shouted as the windows and front door burst open, an unnatural wind blowing around the study. The salt blew easily out of alignment. A page out of the book flew past Christina's head as Samantha popped up in front of her, knocking her shotgun out of her hand. Bobby kept reciting the spell as Samantha's hand closed around Christina's neck again. She heard shotguns blasting and shells periodically hitting the ground as Samantha lifted her in the air with one hand and plunged the other into her chest, grabbing her heart and squeezing. "Stop."

"What's that, dear?"

"Stási!!" Christina shouted. A surge of power rushed through her as Samantha turned to smoke, spontaneously, and she fell to the floor. She looked up to see Sam stuck between a desk and the bookcase, Bobby with a Witness' hand buried in his back, and Dean rushing to grab the falling bowl.

"Fireplace!" Bobby groaned. Dean threw the spell into the fireplace and a blinding blue-white light emanated from the fireplace.

"Bobby?" Dean asked, concerned. She watched as Sam rushed over to help Dean pick Bobby up off the floor. Bobby nodded, panting breaths wracking him.

Christina considered staying on the floor as her extremities tingled and her head swam a little. Dean rushed over, leaned down and offered her a hand. "What's 'stási' mean?" He asked, looking in her eyes.

She closed her eyes, knowing that her pupils were constricted and not wanting him to see. "It means 'stop'. The bitch kept choking me, I couldn't... she... 3 months sober and..."

Bobby was at her side, instantly. "Hey, 3 months sober against 2 decades usin' is a damn good place to start. This don't mean-"

"It means that as soon as shit hits the fan, I fall back to my same old crutch. I'm useless without..."

"Don't talk that way. Come on. You were dying." Dean insisted.

She shook her head. "None of you needed... I'm the only... fuck, I can't even think."

"How long 'til it wears off?" Dean asked Bobby.

"Assuming she doesn't use again..."

"4 hours." She said, breathlessly.

"Hey. Open your eyes." Dean whispered, rubbing a thumb across the scar on her cheek. She leaned into his touch and shook her head a bit.

"I need to... lay down, I think."

"How'd this work, last time, Bobby?" Dean asked, picking Christina up off the floor and moving her to Bobby's couch.

"Just wait it out, Dean. That's all we can do."

"But what if she-"

"I'm right here, Dean. I just... need to... knock me out."

"What, now?" Dean asked, surprised.

"Hit me, Dean." She ordered, her eyes finally opening. He looked over at her, surprised at the small black dots in green pools that were her eyes. "I've got 4 hours of feeling everything. Everything's amplified. My senses are on overdrive, like they used to be. I can hear the electricity in the walls, I can smell the spoiled milk in the fridge, I could feel your heartbeat in your thumb. I need you to hit me, so I can wake up later and not feel like this."

"I can't... can't you just wait it out?"

"I can't get used to feeling like this, again, Dean. I'll want it."

"You seriously-" Dean started as Bobby walked up next to him and hit her with a right hook to the side of her head.

"Bobby!"

"She's right, Dean. It'll be easier if she sleeps through it." Bobby said, hooking his arms under her armpits. "Grab her legs. We'll put her on the floor."

Dean helped move her to the floor next to Bobby's desk. Bobby grabbed his jacket off of the back of his chair and rolled it up to place it under her head. "All right. Let's clean up this damn salt and get some shut-eye of our own."

****************************

Christina woke up as the sun started shining through the window. Her head hurt, but she felt better. She picked up the jacket she'd been laying on and wrapped it around herself. It smelled like whiskey, gunpowder and engine grease and it made her smile as she stepped around Dean's sleeping form to walk into the kitchen and start a pot of coffee. The smell of coffee woke Sam up and he stretched and walked to the pot.

"How's your head?" He asked, quietly.

She smiled and gave a little sigh. "It hurts, but... I'm okay. I'm alive and I'm not... you know, high, so..." She poured a cup of coffee and breathed in the scent of it. "I'll be all right. How'd you sleep?"

Sam nodded. "Pretty good. Can't believe Dean's still out." He took a drink of his coffee and shot a look at his brother. "So... you and Dean seem to be dealing with each other better than last time we saw you."

"We made up before he got taken to Hell."

"You guys gonna get back together?"

"We seem to be a more... fling-based relationship. Together doesn't seem to be in the cards for us."

"But... you love him." Sam accused.

"He was one of the two great loves of my life, but... life gets in the way, sometimes. _This_ life definitely gets in the way. I mean, since you've been a hunter, how many real relationships have you had?"

Sam nodded. "Point taken. But, you're a hunter, too. You guys might be able to make it work."

"Wishful thinking, Sammy." She said, taking her coffee into the study to sit at the desk and flip through the books sitting out.

Sam followed her out, sitting on the couch he'd slept on and Dean jerked awake as Sam put on his shoes. Dean rubbed his eyes, and shook his head, a heavy look on his face. "You all right?" Sam asked, putting his shirt on. "What's wrong, Dean?"

"So..." Dean cleared his throat. "You got no problem believing in... God and Angels?"

"No, not really." Sam admitted.

"So, I guess that means that you believe in the Devil."

"Why are you asking me all this?" Sam asked, leaning forward on the couch.

Dean looked down, then over to the desk where Christina was looking at him from behind her coffee cup. He cleared his throat again. "That, uh, that angel came to me last night... in my dreams. He... uh, he said that Lilith rose the Witnesses. It's a seal, the rising of the Witnesses... one of 66 she needs to break to... open Lucifer's cage. It sounds fuckin' absurd just sayin' that sentence, but... Castiel says that's why angels are on Earth again for the first time since Jesus, to prevent Lucifer's return."

"Castiel?" Christina blurted out, louder than she'd wanted.

Dean and Sam turned to her. "Yeah. That's the angel that put this hand print on my arm. You heard of 'im?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it. She opened it again, and nodded. "I guess. I've read of the angel Cassiel, but that could have been a typo, somebody misplaced a 'T' way back when it first got written down."

"What do you know?" Sam asked.

"Not much. Angel of the Lord, fairly impressive warrior. Runs a garrison charged with watching history unfold... I think. Are you sure... Castiel?"

"Yeah. I'm sure. You seem more shook up by Cas than you do Lucifer."

"I'm... sorry. Angels just... angels are a thing. Still wrapping my head around that. Um..." She stood, shrugging Bobby's jacket off and placing it on the desk. "I'm, uh, gonna head back to... home. I can try to kick up some more research on this Castiel for you."

Dean stood, walking over to her. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Listen, next time you're in Sioux Falls, hit me up." She said, grabbing her shotgun from it's station leaning next to the study entrance and rushing out of the house. Dean watched from the porch as she ran to the driver's side door of a dark blue '72 Dodge Charger, tossing her shotgun through the window and wrenching the door open. The engine roared to life before she peeled out of the salvage yard.

"I think Bobby gave her my car, Sammy." Dean said, shutting the door and walking back to the study.

"Wasn't yers, Dean. And she's the one who fixed the damn thing." Bobby said, sitting at the desk and picking up Christina's abandoned mug.

*************************************

Christina sat at the table in her little Airstream parked in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of Sioux Falls. She had a notebook open. At the top were the words "Castiel Lord= Chris Lyon?" followed by the bits and pieces of conflicting memories that she'd noticed since she came back from Hell. She knew her memories had been tampered with, but she'd never have guessed that an angel might have been involved. She'd only looked up that angel Cassiel because she'd pulled up a memory of discussing 'Castiel is a bastardization of Cassiel' with Dean and Chris, who was Castiel.

Her head hurt. She wished she could just magic away the pain, or magic her memories right, but... she was sober, so she'd have to deal with it, figure it out herself, maybe get a meeting with Dean's angel. She closed her notebook and went to lie down.


End file.
